Idaho news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1887-1891, 1887-08-27
TEE ILLINOIS WRECK



morning. and resumed fhs inquiry beEun
nj ChniswDr1h last week into wednesday
NIGHTS disaster ON the Toledo, Pso-is &
Western. z X. Armstrong superintendent
Of the Rad, vino Ind already been e.
umined, was recalled, end WIS the int
wit1esz Five miuutes zsser the accident
he examined the bzidEe, End found
the pIIing and ezps almost intact,
strung enough In fact, he thought n hEvs
had ssrlnEen ON them f1r = temporary
hrIdEe. The strinEers were abouf rh-ee-
uunrlerE banned ard the Ooe On fhs south
side w1S burned and broken Of n the east
end knd was inclined downward from the
west end. He did not then observe Ths
nails but n daylight they mad besn hsuI
downward br me heat il took fuur hours
10 put Ont the fire by throwing dHsr
On 4, wx1er being sczrpe. and by thai
time the 1imbeB had baen pretty well
consumed The hldgs wRs . pie bsuT
bridge, fsteen fest long. and had been n
ported IN good condition by the bridge Ii
spsctur or May "a, when be made m N
spsc1i0n Of III the b-idgss on the ruad-
Mr.. Armstrong exhibited copies u orders
which were sem ont by Telegraph TnssdET,
the 9fh. the dsy beiurs ths wreck. The
first was to the roadmaster Is follows:
sAnE. 3, 15S7.-C. Ennis-HETe yBnr
men run BFsr their sections tomorrow
KftsrDUun, The last thing bsfUTe quitting
time, and sss that bridges are II no danger
ID fires-
fSiEDed) EN. AEMsIBuEG-
And the following was
EEET CIT 70 THE AGEEu5
AAnE 3. 's7-AM agents east and
including blind stations. last thing ron do
bei0re gong home ts-mnrrVw "Wednesday
niEht, be sure yDur switches ere sef fU
mEin track, clear main track and have
hrzkes sst
Signed J. O. MAsax.8
Mr.. Mason is train disFEItrhsr. Mr.
Armstrong could only gnss = -as spssd Of
the excursion train, but he rn8nght II was
thirty or thir11y-fve miles PER hDur. They
were not snd=zyurIng 10 make mp time He
had talked with both engineers on that
subject AT Gridley, and tod them Il WIS
not necessary; thEt there was plenty Of
time In winch 70 Eef 70 NiaEH-s Fallz The
first engine struck the rails at The east end
Of the bridge all night, bat the tender
pushed them aside and the second engine
the bridge were Of oak, the pllng Of white
oak and the strngerS Of Pima There were
two rows of piling, four on each Eide. The
witness thought that the fire At the bridge
would make a very faint light, If anT.
as seen from ChatswUrIh, because
Of it's lower grade and the ele-
vxtiou between witness believed that IL
WAS SAFE
70 run the excursion train in one section Of
fifteen ezzs with two locomotives, than IN
two sections, because IN the latter ease,
there WIS danger Of rear end collision, or
else If the front section were wrecked, Of
ths rear section running into n The dan
ger would dsTeDd upon how far apart
the sseaons were running. Wit
ness tbOpEhf the SIZE Of the
train did not cut any igure
N the teEuss OF extent Of The disaster. In
bis opinion 3 train Of fifteen cars. fourteen
Of them loaded with passengers. would not
be considered dangerous BY railruad men
He knew Of regular trains Of as MANY As a
dozen coaches being run daily On some Of
the leading roads. The same date that The
Toledo, Peoria & Western sreur.
sion train went ont, the Lake
Enc * Western ran ont Of
Bloomington, another excursion train 70
Niagara FallE, which was also q double
header, and consisted Of at least twenty
coaches, possibly twenty-five OF twsutT-
three, and carried $50 PASSENGER Witness
had been on Wabash double header OF
eleven or twelve Coaches, when II Jumped
the track and every coach ran Of, some on
one side and some on the other, and not
single person was scratched. The rail-
roads, the Pennsylvania system among
them, frequently
EES D0UBLE-HEADERs
The Toledo, Peoria & Western runs
freight trains that way often, when their
leDghrequires II Ewitness denied Engineer
McClintock had demonstrated with him
about running dOubls-header. 1t would
be safe 10 run two engines together over
bridge properly constructed. The bead
engine. No. u, was the largest on the road !:
il weighed forty tons, tbe second engine
No. "a, weighed thirty-four tons, No. u
was chosen for the excursion On account Of
It's great strength and power.
Berial Warren, master mechanic Of the
Toledo, Peoria & Western, was sworn, and
testified that be had been In
the business twenty-five years, on several
roads He considered the train in
6rst~class condition for trip Of that kind.
Had had . great deal Of experience in
sending out double headers on all the roads
with which he had been connected, and
would consider train OF fifteen passenger
coaches perfectly safe. Witness described
the geography Of the wreck az be found il.
-Four cars were packed, one above another
and almost confined In the space Of one, so
completely and closely had they been
telesooped, and the sight of their wreck
did not exceed nine or ten teet. The
right-of-Eay looked as though the grass
and weeds had been cut and burned of,
but there were
no INDICATIONS
Of anything Of the kind close to the bridge:
not closer than fifteen feet. He could not
say how recently the right-of-way had been
burned
]. II. Markley, master Of bridges and
buildings, had been In the business for the
Last twelve years, the last two with the
Toledo, Peoria & Western. Was a car
penter by occupation and had built bridges
himself Had examined the burned
bridge May "a, and found il
In first class condition. Had
rebuilt it May Is Of the previous year.
Rebuilt the bridge after the wreck. The
one burned was heavier than those on
other roads the witness had worked on,
and the striDges were Of standard material
and dimensions.
A. Ennis. roadmaster, Of the Toledo.
Peoria d Western, said that it was his
opinion that the bridge was set on fire, be-
cause on the south side Of the bridge. the
nght-of-way had been burned three weeks
ago, and there were no signs Of the fire on
the north side.
Timothy Coughlin, section foreman, re-
Peated substantially his testimony given